Dishonor On The Badge

The Rise In Police Misconduct

More And More Officers Are Being Accused Of Acts Of Violence In The State Of Florida. But The System For Dealing With Bad Cops Is Becoming More Lenient.

March 16, 1997|By ROBIN BENEDICK and FRED SCHULTE Staff Writers

Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Jeffrey Jennings, off duty and drunk, flashed his badge and flirted with a woman playing pool in a Coral Springs bar.

The woman's boyfriend objected, and a short time later Jennings got into a fistfight in the parking lot with one of the man's friends. Jennings smashed out the windshield of a Jeep, bloodying his hand in the process, police records state.

During the October 1995 scuffle, Jennings lost his gun. A bystander picked it up and later turned it in to Coral Springs police.

In 1996, Fort Lauderdale police gave Jennings a 30-day suspension for the incident, which included obscene threats to a Coral Springs police officer called to the scene. The same officer gave Jennings a ride home, records show.

But Jennings' department did not report the bar incident to the state commission that oversees police, nor were criminal charges filed.

Such misconduct by police officers is not the norm in Florida. Far from it. Most of the state's 72,000 police and corrections officers don't commit crimes or misuse their authority.

But a Sun-Sentinel investigation found that the number of police misconduct cases being reported in the state is on the rise - and more and more of the cases involve violence on the part of the officers.

At the same time, officers accused of misconduct are being treated with more lenience by Florida's Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, which licenses and disciplines police and corrections officers.

After analyzing the records of 6,630 troubled officers, more than 400 disciplinary files obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and internal affairs reports from 15 South Florida police departments, the newspaper found:

-- Reports of serious misconduct by Florida law enforcement officers have soared since 1990.

-- From 1977 to the end of 1989, the state investigated 2,047 offenses. But from 1990 through September 1996, or fewer than half as many years, the police panel handled 5,136 cases, more than twice as many.

-- Violent acts, such as assault, excessive use of force and domestic violence, have more than quadrupled.

-- From 1977 through 1989, the panel judged 161 such offenses. In the six years since then, 685 cases involving police violence have been reviewed. Violent behavior has displaced drug charges as the most common type of misconduct.

-- Though the number of misconduct cases is rising, and reflect more violence, Florida's police disciplinary commission has relaxed penalties.

From 1977 through 1990, officers were barred from further police work in 52 percent of all cases filed. Since 1990, that percentage has fallen to about 35 percent.

In about 350 cases involving serious misconduct decided by the Florida police standards and training commission since 1995, the officers received nothing more than letters warning them to shape up.

Commissioners acknowledge that some errant police officers are getting a break, but they argue that cops given a second chance often stay out of trouble.

"We're more lenient today, and whether you think that's good or bad is your opinion," said commission chairman William Liquori.

The increase in the number of police misconduct cases is merely a part of a larger picture, said Col. Ronald Grimming, a commissioner who also heads the Florida Highway Patrol.

"We have a very small percentage of people who choose to violate the law in society in general, and we have the same in law enforcement," Grimming said.

But Barbara Raffel Price, dean of graduate studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at New York University, said no percentage of bad cops is acceptable.

"This should mean a great deal to people. Police officers are supposed to enforce the laws without breaking the laws, and if they are breaking the laws, they are no longer trustworthy," she said. "When cops break the law, the question is, who's going to police the police and who's going to protect society?''

Caseloads skyrocket

Florida was a leader in the national effort to police its law enforcers, since the creation, in 1977, of the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission.

The commission has the duty to license all law enforcement officers. Its 19 members, most of whom are appointed by the governor, also have the power to "decertify officers," an administrative process in which officers are stripped of their badges and barred from further work in the field.

A conviction for a felony crime, or for a lesser offense involving lying on the job, prompts automatic revocation of an officer's license.

The commission also can revoke officers for more than 70 other types of misconduct, from drunken driving to using excessive force - regardless of whether criminal charges are filed.

Very few police misconduct cases were filed with the state commission until the early 1980s, mainly because the licensing concept was new and few agencies were aggressive in reporting to the state.